Thursday TV Ratings: ‘Scandal’ and ‘How to Get Away With Murder’ Crossover a Big Winner

The incredible crossover between Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder led to ratings increases for the ABC dramas Thursday night.

Returning from a three-week hiatus due to the 2018 Winter Olympics, Scandal rose by double digits in both measures to a 1.3 rating in adults 18-49 and 5.1 million viewers at 9 p.m. Murder followed at 10 p.m. with a 1.1 rating and 4.2 million viewers, tying its season high in the demo and setting a new season high in total viewers.

The crossover episode featured Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) and Annalise Keating (Viola Davis) teaming up to bring a class-action suit of wrongful convictions to the United States Supreme Court.

The crossover’s lead-in, Variety reports, Grey’s Anatomy — which introduced characters from the upcoming firefighter spinoff series Station 19, including heroine Andy Herrera (Jaina Lee Ortiz) — ruled the night for the network with a 2.0 and 7.5 million total viewers.

On CBS, The Big Bang Theory, which featured the birth of Howard and Bernadette’s second child, who they named Neil Michael, was the most viewed show of the night with a 2.5 and 13.6 million viewers. Young Sheldon with a 2.1 and 12.4 million viewers followed. Both were down slightly. Mom (1.5, 9 million) was even, while Life in Pieces (1.1, 6.5 million) and SWAT (0.9, 5.3 million) were down.

For NBC, Superstore (1.0, 3.5 million viewers), marking series star America Ferrera’s directorial debut for the episode “Video Game Release”, which was recently renewed for a fourth season, was even. AP Bio (0.8, 2.7 million), which aired two episodes Thursday, was down from the episode that aired immediately after the Olympics, but was approximately even with the preview episode that aired February 1.

Will & Grace (1.1, 4.1 million) was even, as was Chicago Fire (1.1, 5.6 million).

On Fox, Gotham (0.8, 2.6 million) was even. The premiere of Showtime at the Apollo as a weekly series drew a 0.6 and 25 million viewers.

For The CW, Supernatural (0.6, 1.6 million) and Arrow (0.4, 1.2 million) were both even.

ABC and CBS tied for first in the demo for the night with a 1.5. CBS was first in viewers with 8.7 million. ABC was second with 5.6 million.

NBC was third in the demo with a 1.0 and 4.1 million viewers. Fox was fourth with a 0.7 and 2.5 million. The CW drew a 0.5 and 1.4 million.